{"id":459,"date":"2009-07-08T14:25:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T14:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2009\/07\/im-addicted-to-chewing-food-and-then-spitting-it-out\/"},"modified":"2009-07-08T14:25:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-08T14:25:00","slug":"im-addicted-to-chewing-food-and-then-spitting-it-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mormontherapist\/2009\/07\/im-addicted-to-chewing-food-and-then-spitting-it-out.html","title":{"rendered":"I’m addicted to chewing food and then spitting it out…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I am 28 years old. I was overweight as a child and by age 15 I was 250 pounds. At 18 I decided this was not working for me and from 18 to 21 I lost over 100 pounds. I got to about 140 and then went on an <\/span><\/span>LDS<\/span><\/span><\/span> mission. I lost the weight the healthy way exercising and eating well. Then I went on my mission to NYC. I was somewhat forced to eat bad food on my mission at dinner <\/span><\/span>appointments<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> and the thought of gaining weight scared me so I started spitting food into my napkin and then throwing it in the garbage. So I chew food and spit it out. I have been doing this off and on for the last 7 years. I go for a few months then I do it again. I\u2019m addicted. Its terrible and I want to stop but every time I do I start to gain weight. I told my husband and parents and they say just stop\u2026in a loving way. Is this something I need to go to my bishop about? We cannot afford counseling. I just don\u2019t know what do do about it\u2026. I know this is not keeping the word of wisdom\u2026does this keep me from the temple? I feel like I am a good person, served a mission, have a wonderful life, husband and son. Everything around me seems so wonderful and perfect but I look in the mirror and all I see is a how fat I am.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
First of all I want to commend you for reaching out. I know it can be incredibly difficult and\/or <\/span><\/span>embarrassing<\/span><\/span><\/span> to discuss these types of issues. Eating disorders can be very frustrating to deal with and are <\/span><\/span>unfortunately<\/span><\/span><\/span> common within the <\/span><\/span>LDS<\/span><\/span><\/span> population. This is one of the areas where our <\/span><\/span>LDS<\/span><\/span><\/span> culture, high <\/span><\/span>expectations<\/span><\/span><\/span> and righteous desires to achieve perfection can become negatively skewed, resulting in our detriment instead of the progression Heavenly Father intends. I don\u2019t currently have the resource, but I once read that <\/span><\/span>BYU<\/span><\/span><\/span> was the leading university nationwide for occurrence of eating disorders. This does not surprise me. The pressure women and girls of all ages feel to fit a certain clothing size and to look a certain way is a huge problem we face in our society as a whole. Then add to that the very real <\/span><\/span>LDS<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span>expectations<\/span><\/span><\/span> of being good, moral, educated, exceptional, etc. women: and this can act as a catalyst for <\/span><\/span>LDS<\/span><\/span><\/span> women to desperately struggle with feelings of never seeming \u201cgood enough.\u201d And therein lies a great breeding ground for eating disorders.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Yes, we are asked to keep the <\/span><\/span>Word of Wisdom<\/span><\/span><\/i>, which has many <\/span><\/span>implications<\/span><\/span><\/span> and which most of us at some level or another do not obey perfectly. Heavenly Father\u2019s purpose in presenting these teachings are to help us have the healthiest lifestyles possible. The questions that are asked in the temple recommend interview <\/span><\/span>specifically<\/span><\/span><\/span> deal with the use of coffee, tea, nicotine, alcohol and elicit drugs. Next time you\u2019re in the temple you will notice that there are both overweight and underweight patrons. If being at the \u201cperfect weight\u201d or having a \u201cperfect diet\u201d were requisites for getting temple recommends, our temples would be in desperate need of attendance. Although I cannot speak for your bishop obviously, I would be very surprised if this problem would keep you from temple attendance. I have never heard of such a case.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
The perception that we must be flawless to enter the temple is incorrect and I hope you can begin to release the sources of <\/span><\/span>inappropriate<\/span><\/span><\/span> guilt you are feeling. In fact, in order to be most successful in letting go of the eating habits you describe wanting to decrease, you will need to face the sources of this guilt and\/or shame.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
There are some things I would want to clarify before finalizing the comments I\u2019m about to give you because I\u2019m not sure you classify as being diagnosed with a full-blown eating disorder:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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